This year, I'm trying to see if we can launch something a little bit special, a little bit crazy. The PLANNING POST is up, so go over there ASAP and respond to the poll. Help us pick a date. Let's get this party started!

Hi everyone! Just a last minute reminder for everyone about the party tomorrow!

The fun starts with a general "social hour" around 3:00 PM as people start to trickle in. The real party begins at 5:00. It's a pot-luck, so bring something to share! The party continues until we're all too tired to function. I've got plenty of sleeping accommodations if anyone wants to stay over.

This is just a reminder to all the local-ish Star Trek lovelies on my list here:

Next Saturday, the 19th of March, is the date of our next USS Macchiato party! The crew will be converging on the Captain's Quarters (my house) for an afternoon and evening of fun! The kicker on this whole event? Our First Officer is back in town! Anticipate the following:

Also, I've completely finished turning my basement into a proper party room. Carpet, comfy futons, central heating that actually covers the basement, and the television is downstairs. We have enough space for the entire crew to sack out on cushy futons while watching episodes and movies now! The upstairs living room will be non-TV socializing space. Plus, with a total of four futons and an air mattress in the house, anyone who wants to stay over will have plenty of sleeping space.

NOTE: Also, as most of you know, even though mizuno_caitlin is here in the USA right now, she's made her home in Japan. We're grateful that she's safe, but this is a reminder of how small the world is, and how we really do need to take care of each other. I'm going to be putting a coffee can for donations near the door. I know that not everyone in the crew has a lot of money, and that our economy here at home is pretty tight, but if you wish to put in anything (even pocket change), we'll send the full amount to the Red Cross to help with the recovery effort.

Just a reminder to anyone who might have missed it, the second phase of planning for the USS Macchiato's Holiday Party is underway! The date has been set for January 8th. There will be ice skating, a pot-luck holiday feast (I'm making a whole turkey), a gift exchange, movie watching, and general holiday revelry and geekiness!

If you are interested in attending this event, please go HERE, read the details, fill out the poll, and join us! Last year, the party had an epic 24 attendees, and we were a very new group. This year promises to be bigger and better. Hope to see you there!

For those of you who might have missed the post on the group page, head over HERE and chime in on the party planning poll. We need to pick a date for the party, and need to get an idea of what activities people would like to do.

(For those who are new-ish to my LJ, a quick explanation: The USS Macchiato is a Star Trek fangroup based in the Kansas City area, but with members ranging from Colorado to eastern Missouri, Chicago to Oklahoma. Technically, we even have members in upstate new York and Japan. We get together approximately once a month for rampant geekiness and a damned good party. Membership is open to all humanoids over the age of 18 Earth years.)

Right now, the vague plans for the holiday party include a possible pre-main-party ice skating party at Crown Center. It will be a pot-luck, and we'll probably watch a movie. The idea has also been thrown in that we should do an MST3K. A few people have seconded the notion of doing group fanfic readings aloud (badfic, bad porn, really good fic, crackfic... should be a fun time). We're also definitely doing another gift exchange game this year (I'll give the full details for that in a separate post) because it went so well last year.

Currently, the date with the most votes is January 8th, although that could still change.

So, if you're interested in joining the USS Macchiato for our annual holiday party, head over there and get involved!

It's been far too long since we've had a party away mission. I posted a poll on the ship's LJ community yesterday. We've got 9 people of replying. Thus far, the most popular date for the party seems like November 6th, with Seven of Nine people voting for that date. (Slap me for that one later.) Come on, guys - we have 44 members of the crew. Granted, some folks live too far away to come very often, but we should be getting more replies than this! And after this event, the next big event is the HOLIDAY PARTY. Last year, we had an attendance of 24 people, and our little ship was practically in its infancy at the time. It was an awesome party, and this year, we need to out-do that. (Dude, how am I going to fit all these people in my house the Captain's Quarters?)

So, it's time to BOOST THE SIGNAL. The Captain is alive and functional and is ready to give the "PUNCH IT!" command. Let's get this ship - the finest ship ever to cruise the galaxy of fandom - back out there and ripping along at Warp Factor 9.

If you're a member of my crew (or would like to be), and you see this post, please cross-post about this on your LJ. I want to get the whole crew involved again.

HAILING FREQUENCIES OPEN!

(Also, I seriously need to review, revise, and update the Ship's Roster. I remember almost everyone's ship-board positions, but I know I'm forgetting some of them. That's very bad. I should be able to remember everyone's duty position. So I might put out a Ship Roster post soon to get an updated list.)

So, we're back from Trek Fest, and HOLY SHIT. Okay, where do I begin? And let me tell you something... this entry is LONG, but seriously, I'm telling you, READ TO THE END OF THIS.

EDIT: Okay, I just noticed that the Trek Fest news has linked my little LJ post. So if anyone is wandering over here from there... hi! I didn't write this with any intent for it to be a proper write-up or article. This is just my crazy little fan-blog where I occasionally flail, rant, and write. It's not professional. It's highly illogical. I wrote it in the backseat of my car on the road home from Riverside while a friend traded driving with me for a little while. But hey, if you're here, have a cup of tea (Earl Grey, hot), and have a read.

Title: "Linear Time"Rating: PG, for a tiny bit of foul languageCharacters: Kirk, Spock, SiskoCanon: TOS, ST:XI, DS9 (Specifically, TOS episode "The Trouble with Tribbles"; DS9 episodes "Emissary" and "Trials and Tribble-ations"; and the timeline shift of ST:XI taken into account so that the Kirk and Spock are the characters of the reboot timeline. And no, I swear I wasn't smoking anything when I thought of this.)Word Count: 3,778Summary: Kirk receives an unexpected communiqué after a very long day.

Notes: This fic is a going-away present for mizuno_caitlin , the First Officer of the USS Macchiato, who is currently on assignment at a research station on the distant planet of... Japan. If this fic doesn't make sense to anyone else, that's okay. Number One... this is for you.